Oh Jeez
by Advocaat
Summary: Conan never knew that taking a nap in class would set off such a chain of reactions. The black oraganization? Math with Ran? Secret hiding can be tough. SR
1. Default Chapter

"EDOGAWA CONAN!"

Conan raised his head from its resting place on his folded arms after being startled awake by his teacher's voice.

"Wha?" he asked sleepily.

Conan's math teacher Amamiya-sensei glared down at him. "Edogawa-kun, this is the twelfth time you've fallen asleep in my class. May I remind you that school is a place for learning not snoozing."

The class snickered and some students made faces at him from behind the teacher's back. Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, and Genta watched him nervously. They knew that their friend was in **big** trouble.

Amamiya continued, "The only reason I haven't called home about this in the past is because your grades have been exceptional, but I think that we can both agree that **twelve times **is pushing it."

Conan's eyes widened, all traces of previous sleepiness gone. "Please don't sensei! Not Ran-neechan! I'll be good! I promise!" he pleaded.

Since no permanent cure for his condition had been found as of yet, Conan tried to make Ran happy by being as supportive and helpful as he could. He knew that finding out he was sleeping in school would make her unhappy.

"All right, I suppose I could let it go one more time. After all, you are a _very _good student." Amamiya suddenly smirked. "Even though it's against school regulations to let a student off the hook so many times, I'm willing to consider it if, and only _if_ you do something for me."

"Really? You will?" Conan looked hopeful, and Ayumi Genta and Mitsuhiko looked relieved. They knew how important Ran was to their friend. The rest of the class looked put out.

"You do agree to the terms don't you Edogawa-kun?" She paused then squatted down and looked straight into his eyes. "This is your last chance kid."

The whole class audibly gulped. Amamiya-sensei could be _very_ intimidating. Even Conan was scared of her, and he was supposed to be a high school student. (A/N: Sort of makes you wonder why he dared to fall asleep in the first place.)

"W-What do you want me to do?" he asked nervously trying but not really succeeding to break eye contact. Luckily, she moved her gaze away and stood up straight again crossing her arms.

"I am a math teacher," she began.

The teenage section of Conan's brain wanted to make some comment along the lines of _'Should I find that surprising? I'm in your class...' _Though it's probably a good thing he kept that to himself.

"So," she continued, "I am going to give you a math problem to solve. If you solve it correctly I won't call home." Her smirk widened as she mentally congratulated herself. She wasn't going easy on him this time. Oh to be a teacher, 'twas the life.

Conan meanwhile relaxed. If it was just a math problem he hardly had anything to worry about.

"I will allow you to use one sheet of paper, a pencil and a calculator." Amamiya told him.

"Hey, no fair! Why does he get to use a calculator?" remarked a random boy in the class. There were murmurs of agreement."

'_He has a point. Why **would **she let me use a calculator? Last time I checked we were still learning multiplication. I wouldn't have to do any work...'_

Amamiya ignored the comment. "Listen carefully because there are three parts."

Conan nodded.

"Pretend you have a right triangle." She began.

Conan drew a right triangle on his paper._ 'Strange, we haven't learned about triangle types yet.'_

"One angle is measure 'x'." She continued.

Conan picked one of the two angles that wasn't the right angle and marked it with an x. _'Algebra? What kind of seven year old knows algebra?'_

Amamiya glanced at his paper. _'Is this kid actually following me?'_

A little startled she continued. "The side adjacent to angle x is 3 meters long."

Conan again marked down the information.

"The hypotenuse is 5 meters long."

'_This is starting to look like trigonometry,'_ Conan thought perplexed. Then it dawned on him. _'Why didn't I see it before? She's giving me a problem that she is sure no elementary school student can solve.' _he inwardly chuckled._ 'Sneaky sneaky, she thinks she can make a fool of me? Ha! No primary school teacher is gonna outsmart detective Kudou Shinichi!'_

"Now tell me Edogawa-kun, what function would you use to find the measure of angle 'x'?"

Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, Genta and the rest of the class looked totally lost..

"Cosine Inverse." He stated without much thought.

'_What is with this kid?' _Amamiya was utterly shocked to say the least. _'There's no way he could know that...'_ Regaining her composure she spoke.

"Very good. Now, part two. Solve for angle 'x'." She watched as Conan punched a few numbers into his calculator.

'_Good thing I have a scientific calculator.' _he thought. _'I don't know what I would do if I didn't.' _Speaking out loud he said,

"The answer is 53.13010235 degrees."

Conan found Amamiya's jaw literally hitting the floor, along with everyone else's strangely satisfying.

"T-that's correct," she said hesitantly after checking the answer on her own calculator. Conan just looked smug.

"Part three. Round your answer to the nearest hundredth." Amamiya didn't really see much point in asking him to do this last part, but she always thought it was best to finish what you started.

"53.13 degrees,"

"All right kid, you win." She sighed and rubbed her temples. "I won't call home, but you should consider taking a higher level of math."

Conan's face went chalk white. For a moment he didn't move, then started banging his forehead against the surface of his desk.

'_Crap crap crap crap CRAP! I was trying to _avoid _standing out! There's no way anyone's going to keep _this _a secret! Why do I have to be so cocky!' _

His friends left their desks and ran up to him.

"Wow that was great Conan!" Genta exclaimed grinning widely."

"Yeah! That was so cool!" agreed Mitsuhiko.

"Conan-kun is so smart!" remarked Ayumi.

Pretty soon the whole class was congratulating him. Even the ones who were hoping to see him get in trouble. Conan vaguely noticed that Amamiya was now on the phone with someone talking animatedly. Conan just groaned and continued to bang his head against the desk.

After school Ran came to pick Conan up.

"Hi Conan-kun, how was your day?" she asked walking up to him.

"Horrible."

"Why? What happened?" she asked frowning. "You weren't picked on were by bullies were you?"

"No, nothing like that!" Conan answered quickly seeing the protective glint in the teenager's eyes.

"Ran-san!" shouted Amamiya, running up to them from across the campus.

"What is it?"

'_Oh no! She's going to tell Ran about the math problem!' _The small detective thought frantically.

"Hey Ran-neechan! Let's go home, I have a lot of homework to do so the sooner we get home the better!" He laughed nervously, hoping she would decide to leave without talking to his teacher. Of course the chances of that happening were doomed from the start.

"Let me talk to your teacher first." Ran said.

"But-" He broke off realizing there was nothing he could do to change her mind.

"What is it Amamiya-sensei?" she asked.

"I wanted to suggest that you enroll Edogawa-kun in a higher math class."

"Oh? Why?"

"Did you know that he can do Trigonometry?"

"WHAT!"

"It's true, he solved a problem like it was nothing today in class." She turned to the teen-turned-child and smiled. "Isn't that right Edogawa-kun?"

Conan chuckled nervously rubbing the back of his head as he scratched his leg with his foot.

'_Just like Shinichi...'_ Ran though, catching the uncommon gesture.

"Why didn't you tell me Conan-kun?" she asked looking down at him wide eyed.

"Uh…" was all he could think of to say.

Turning back to the teacher Ran said, "Of course, if he has already learned Trig then a higher math course is definitely needed."

"The class will have to be held at your school" Amamiya informed her.

"That's fine."

"But-" Conan tried to protest but was drowned out.

"Ran-san, math is your first period right?"

"Hai."

"Then why don't we try him in your math class. You are about the right level, and this way he'll have somebody he knows to help him out."

"That sounds like a great idea."

'_I love how they're not giving me any say at all...' _Conan thought sarcastically.

"Good he can walk to school with you in the morning, attend first period, then come here right afterwards. Is that alright with you?"

"Yes that's fine."

"Perfect. I'll talk with the administrative board and get this set up then give you a call when the change is made."

"Right." Ran replied, then looked down at Conan. "We're going to be in the same class Conan-kun! Isn't that wonderful? Ever since that idiot Shinichi went missing I've only had Sonoko-chan in that class with me. It will be nice having somebody refreshing to talk to."

'_Almost like having Shinichi back again...'_

"Yeah," Conan tried to sound enthusiastic, but he was filled with dread. All he could do now was hope they didn't broadcast this in the news. After all, it isn't everyday that a seven year old is sent to high school.

'_At least class won't be as boring, and I'll be with Ran.'_

I hope you liked the first chapter! R/R I'll try to update soon.


	2. Oh jeez

Edogawa Conan, or Kudou Shinichi as our protagonist was known before Aoyama-sama created the plot for Detective Conan was facing his biggest dilemma since, well, he has been in so many tough situations recently that the former statement really wouldn't have held much meaning. I suppose what I mean to say is that our little friend found himself in what could turn into a really big pile of doggy splat.

000

Ran was busy in the kitchen getting dinner together for the two greatest bottomless pits- ahem I mean _detectives_ of Japan. Well...one of them. The other was plotting unique ways of getting back at his childhood friend for laughing her head off when he...well that's beside the point. Unlike most days, Conan wasn't feeling the pangs of hunger quite as acutely. He was more worried about what was going to happen to him if the Black Opps found out who he was.

000

Conan sat on the steady couch in the main room of the Mouri Detective Agency, his chin resting in his fingers, and staring off into space. In reality he was thinking about what had happened earlier that day. The incident in his math class luckily hadn't become too public, but there was a brief mention of it in the six o'clock news that evening.

It used to amaze Shinichi how fast the media found out about things like that, but after working as a detective for a while, he got to experience first hand just how alert reporters were to unusual happenings. It always seemed to Shinichi that the people in the news business kept spies in every nook and cranny of the city, It was a silly idea of course but still...

Conan new that even the smallest of mentions in the paper or television could ruin everything he had worked so hard to establish since his accident. Any one of the organization members could decide to look into it and notice the similarities between the child genius and the supposedly dead high school detective. They would not leave any ends untied, and Conan was well aware of that.

Still...Conan was secretly kind of glad that he would be going to school with Ran, even for just one class. This would give him the opportunity to catch up on his math studies and he could keep a better eye on her. He knew it was only a matter of time before she would get tired of waiting for 'Shinichi' to come back. Though the thought weighed heavily on his heart, Conan couldn't help the small smirk that found its way onto his child like features.

000

About a half an hour later Conan was snapped out of his pensive daze by Ran's announcement that dinner was ready. After everyone had sat down and begun shoveling chopstick-fulls of rice into their mouths Ran decided to tell her father, the famous detective _sleeping Kogorou,_ about the new arrangements.

"Guess what dad? Kogorou looked up at the sound of his dear daughters voice. "Conan is going to be attending math class with me from now on! Isn't that cool?"

Kogorou's eyes bulged out of their sockets and he slammed his can of beer down onto the cluttered table.

"What? That little brat is smart enough to go to high school! That's impossible! Are you sure?" he exclaimed.

Ran laughed at the comical expression on her father's face. "Quite sure. His teacher told me about it after he showed superior math knowledge in class today."

Conan, who had been silent throughout the entire exchange, was immediately rounded on by Kogorou.

"Well now, isn't that something! So when you become rich for being a child math prodigy you'll let me in on the benefits right!" The detective's look of surprise had turned into one of excitement.

"Uhh..." was Conan's only reply.

"Father!" Ran glared at him with a look of severe disapproval. Kogorou quickly reverted his attention back to his plate. Conan chuckled quietly to himself. He had lived with Ran and her father for almost a year now, and still he found these exchanges between them amusing. It was funny how good a job Ran did of keeping her father in line.

000

The next morning Ran and Conan set off for Conan's first day of high school. (Or so Ran thought.) Ran was acting especially cheery that morning Conan noticed. He was glad he could make her happy, even if it was in exchange for the longevity of his secrets.

'_I wonder what my old classmates will think?_' Conan thought, '_I just hope nobody recognizes me._'

They walked through the familiar front doors of Teitan High side by side, Conan's hand firmly encompassed by Ran's own. Conan fought down the initial embarrassment that came with walking into a high school holding hands with someone, especially Ran by reminding himself that he was only seven now, and it wasn't unusual for a seven year old to hold hands with somebody.

"So Conan, looking foreword to your first day of high school math?" Ran smiled at him. "I can't wait to introduce you to everyone."

"Uhh...yeah sure. I umm...can't wait to tell my uh friends about it." Was Conan's rather lame response.

The duo stopped by the school Library to pick up Conan's new textbook and then headed towards Ran's classroom.

Conan, Ran thought, was being exceptionally quiet that day. Usually he would get excited at the idea of something new. She decided that his silence was probably caused by nervousness about being in a new place.

In truth it was the exact opposite. Conan couldn't be nervous about attending a new school since he was supposed to be going there anyway, but the thought of Gin and Vodka finding out about him was still a hot topic among his thoughts. He was already having enough trouble with Vermouth as it was. And that new English teacher Jodie-sensei...while he and Heiji had investigated her, he still felt uneasy, like she was hiding something.

As Conan entered his classroom for the first time in months, he decided to himself that he was just going to have to keep an eye out for her for the time he was there.

Upon entry, the teacher, Ms. Mikawa strode up to greet them.

"Ah, this must be young Conan," she said to Ran. They exchanged bows and Ms. Mikawa went over the classroom rules as was mandatory. A couple minutes later after everyone else had arrived Conan, still holding Ran's hand, was summoned to the front of the class. A couple people caught sight of him and whispered to the person next to them who in turn whispered it and soon the whole classes attention was on him.

"Class," began the teacher and everyone fell silent. Conan vaguely remembered doing this in front of his Primary school class not too long ago.

"Please welcome our new student Edogawa Conan. He will be joining you for this class from now on. Conan, would you like to tell the class about yourself?"

Conan looked at the familiar faces of his old classmates. "Um...Hi. My name is Conan and I'm seven years old. I'm uh pleased to meat you?" the last part came out sounding like a question.

The class just stared quietly at him. Conan gulped.

'_Oh jeez..._'


	3. Interesting news

A/N Ha! And you thought there was going to be a long wait again! I appreciate the reviews enormously! I apologize for the long wait between chapter one and chapter two!

Last chapter

Conan looked at the familiar faces of his old classmates. "Um...Hi. My name is Conan and I'm seven years old. I'm uh pleased to meet you?" the last part came out sounding like a question.

The class just stared quietly at him. Conan gulped.

'_Oh jeez..._'

Chapter three

And then there was madness.

"What! A little kid!"

"He's soooooooooo cute!"

"Ran! You're looking especially hot today!" (Ran glared shot that person a glare)

"Is this for real?"

"Conan-chan! Do you want to be my friend!"

"No way he's mine! I saw him first!"

"Kawaii!"

"Little kid thinks he can steel our girls!"

"How embarrassing."

"Come sit next to me Conan-chan!"

"Hey Ran! Why didn't you tell me the kid was going to be in our class!"

The last remark was made by Suzuki Sonoko.

"Doesn't he look like someone?" said someone else.

"Class!" shouted Ms. Mikawa. "That's enough, please calm down."

"Looks like your popular already Conan-kun!" Ran bent down and nudged him with her elbow." Meanwhile Conan just stood there with his eyes bugging out of his head.

He regained his composure admired the familiar ness of the room. Out of habit he walked up to his old desk and plopped down into the chair while setting his bag on the smooth surface.

The teacher stared at him. "How did you know that was going to be your seat? She asked.

Conan looked up at her strangely then realization dawned on him and he immediately made an effort to cover his tracks.

"Uhh...lucky guess?"

"Wow Conan When did you become psychic?" Ran joked settling herself down in her seat next to his.

A wistful smile played across Ran's face for a second and Conan noticed it.

'_Now more than ever, sitting in that seat...He just reminds me so much of_--"

"Shinichi!"

Ran and Conan both looked up, suddenly alert, and stared over at the person who spoke. Said person was looking straight at him.

"You look exactly like Shinichi!"

There was a murmur of agreement from the rest of the class and Conan began to sweat slightly. He knew they would notice! Soon everyone would hear about it thanks to the exceptional intelligence system of the school. (I.e.: High school Gossip)

Before Ms. Mikawa could do anything the class had erupted into conversation again.

"Shinichi has been missing for a long time hasn't he?" One girl asked.

"Too bad," stated another girl, "He was really cute and way smart,"

"Yeah, the perfect guy," yet another sighed. Conan felt his face heat up.

"Too bad he was always hanging around you Ran. Everyone knows he liked you best." She nudged Ran playfully.

"Conan's eyes widened considerably at that comment and his face became even redder. But it was nothing compared to Ran. Her face was the same shade as her shirt, which was a very dark red that day, and she was stuttering incoherently. If Conan wasn't so busy being embarrassed he might have noticed how much Ran looked like himself after one of his mothers teasing comments about his and Ran's relationship.

Meanwhile at the head of the classroom Ms. Mikawa was at a loss for what to do. The class was being unusually impossible that day. She had been yelling over the excited shouts for about ten minutes and as far as she could tell, nobody had heard her. Giving up, she sighed and walked over to her desk. It was against regulations but she decided to give the class a free period. After all, sharing class with a second grader would take some getting used to, so they could use this time to get to know him.

"So Ran, are you gonna tell me why Chibi-kun is here?" asked Sonoko, successfully changing the subject. As Ran explained the situation to her friend, Conan watched his classmates continue to ponder over the whereabouts of his older self.

"I heard that Kudou fell in love with a girl at a different school and ran off with her." One guy stated. Conan stared at him.

"But I heard that he was caught up on a difficult case for the police or something." said a girl.

"No way! I bet he's off in America with his parents lying on a beach and laughing at us because we're stuck in school." said another boy.

'_Where are people getting information like _that' Conan thought almost falling backwards in his chair from the sheer idiocy around him.

"Hey Ran, weren't you with him when he disappeared?" asked Sonoko. All eyes turned Ran.

"Well sort of," said Ran. "We were gonna walk home from tropical land when he just ran off and said he'd meat up with me later."

"Ooooohhhh, Ran and Shinichi were on a ddddaaaaaaaaattttttteeee!"

"Well he came back for the school play," continued Sonoko. "That was so funny! He totally believed me when I told him what to do for his part!

"I remember that! He got it all wrong!" Somebody else said.

There were laughs as everyone recalled the school play that had run amuck.

Conan sweat dropped. '_Thanks a bunch Sonoko, how was I supposed to know what to do?_'

"So has anyone seen him since then?" someone asked.

There was silence for a minute as everyone waited for an answer. Then a quiet boy named Taichi that Shinichi remembered being on the soccer team in junior high spoke up.

"I haven't seen him exactly..." he started. Everyone waited for him to continue. Ran was listening carefully. Any news she could get on Shinichi would be quite welcome.

"I don't know if it was Shinichi Kudou or a different detective, and I don't know if they were telling the truth...they were kind of creepy so I left soon after I heard..."

"What happened? Did you hear something about him?" asked ran expectantly.

"Well," Taichi went on. Ran vaguely noticed that suddenly Conan seemed really serious. "There were these two guys sitting outside a restaurant speaking in hushed voices. When I got closer I noticed that they were talking about a detective. They said something like,

'It's a good thing we took care of that detective brat while we could. He might have posed a threat to our next mission. Evidently the pill worked well since it has been this long and nobody has come after us. That little traitor Sherry really is a genius. People would pay a lot of money for an untraceable poison these days.'

That's what I heard anyway." he looked troubled. "I think...I think they killed someone...I think they killed Shinichi Kudou! Who else would be called a _Detective Brat_?" Everyone looked at the kid in shocked silence. All traces of humor were gone from the surrounding faces.

Conan's eyes widened and he felt his throat go dry. He turned to look at Ran. She was shaking slightly and her face had gone deathly pale.

'I_t can't be true! It can't...Shinichi...They must have been talking about some other high school detective. But...the only other person like that is Heiji, but I just talked to him four days ago. If it was him he would have to have been poisoned in the last couple days_.' Ran thought.

"Taichi," she asked shakily, "When did you hear this?"

Taichi thought for a moment then said, "About a week and a half ago I think.

'_Oh no...Shinichi...Shinichi..._' Ran thought as the classroom spun faintly before her eyes and then everything went black.

000

The next chapter will be here soon. I promise there won't be any more long waits. I _will_ finish this story! Please review!


	4. I just ate yogurt!

The first thing Ran noticed when she awoke was that there was a warm lump weighing down on her stomach. She slowly opened her eyes letting them adjust to the bright light coming in through a window next to her bed. Somewhere in the back of her mind she vaguely remembered that she didn't the window in her room was opposite her bed.

She took in the white walls and various machines around her and came to the first logical conclusion that crossed her mind. She was in a hospital room.

'_Why am I here? Did I have an accident? I don't remember anything like that...' _

It was morning, Ran could tell by looking out the window. She lifted her head slightly to examine the the mysterious warm lump, and was mildly surprised to find Conan laying next to her on the bed with his head and arms resting on her stomach sleeping peacefully. The overwhelming cuteness of the scene brought a smile to Ran's face as she gazed fondly at the small boy who had become the little brother she never had. It was times like these that made her realize how much she really really loved him, and she didn't know what she would do if he were to ever go away.

The situation reminded Ran of the time Conan was shot while exploring a cave with his friends. After the surgery she had stayed with him all night, just like he was doing no for her. She had been so sure that he was Shinichi. She had even gone so far as to tell the doctors that she and Conan had the same blood type just because hers was the same as Shinichi's.

'_But the idea is one hundred percent impossible.'_ said a small voice in the back of Ran's head.

'_Why? There could be some way, I just need to figure it out.'_' Ran felt silly arguing with herself.

'_Because Shinichi is dead and Conan is still here.'_ the voice responded.

'_What?'_

And then all the memories of what happened came flooding back. Shinichi had been poisoned, that's what Taichi had said. Shinichi Kudou had been murdered. Denial swept over Ran, she didn't want to believe it.

'_He was supposed to be the one who caught the murderers._

_He was supposed to be the one solved the crimes!'_ Ran felt the corners of her eyes begin to burn.

'_He was supposed to prevent murders.'_ Ran's chest tightened.

'_He wasn't supposed to be the one who died!_

_If he is gone, who will solve the crimes?' _Ran felt as if someone was squeezing her heart.

'_Who would put the pieces together?_

_Who would find that one truth?'_

But Ran understood that one truth. It was telling her that the famous high school detective, her childhood friend, the person she cared the most about in the entire universe was was gone, and no matter how much she wished otherwise nothing could ever bring him back. She felt the tears finally break free from her eyes, her shoulders shook with her sobs.

'_I can't believe it...I just can't believe it...there's no way Shinichi would let it end like that...'_

Convulsions ripped through her body, she felt she was going to vomit. The tears wouldn't stop. Ran's sobbing grew more fierce, she couldn't breathe, the tears wouldn't quit coming. All of her thoughts were unbearable now, she felt as if her body was burning. She was dying, she needed air but she couldn't seem to remember how to breathe. She knew she was screaming, her throat was hoarse, her lungs burned...

"**RAN!**"

And then Conan was there. She felt him press the top of his head against her cheek all the while gripping her tightly in a fierce embrace.

Somehow his touch forced her body to work properly again and she managed to calm herself. That's when she realized that he was crying too. She couldn't remember him ever crying before. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him back as tightly as she could without hurting him.

Suddenly the room was full of people as a couple doctors and and half a dozen nurses who had obviously heard the whole ordeal came rushing in.

Conan was removed by one of the nurses as the her coworkers immediately began an examination and the two doctors took turns interrogating Ran about what had happened.

At some point in all the all of the madness Ran's parents were called back to the hospital, Kogorou and Eri had been there before but had left after making certain their daughter was all right and talking to her doctor.

Conan stood quietly in a corner away from all the fuss and continued to cry. He had kept the tears in for so long, but now he just couldn't seem to make them stop. So he cried. He cried for all the times he had lied to Ran, he cried for the pain he had caused her, he cried for what happened to him, and he cried for for all the people who would suffer because of what he did to Ran.

000 (The previous day)

Conan watched helplessly as Ran promptly fainted. and he scrambled to catch her as she fell out of her seat. Her friend Sonoko ran to the teacher to tell her to cal an ambulance.

The rest of the class stared at their fallen classmate in shock and then began to panic.

'_Something is wrong!'_ Conan couldn't help the feeling from intruding as he watched Ran sleep peacefully in his arms. And suddenly he knew. Ran had begun to sweat and her face contorted in pain.

'_Ran! Why didn't you tell me!'_

The ambulance came and took Ran and Conan to the hospital.

During the ride a nurse inspected Ran and it was with great horror that Conan watched Ran be rushed to the emergency room.

Conan hardly noticed when Kogorou raced into the room followed closely by Eri Kisaki. After what seemed like an eternity the doors to the ER opened and a doctor walked briskly out to meet them.

"I assume you are the parents of Ms. Ran Mouri?" he said. Eri nodded.

"And is this her brother?" he went on referring to Conan.

"No, he is just staying with us for the time being," said Kogoro.

"I see. My name is Gosho Aoyama and I regret to inform you that your daughter is very sick."

"Doctor! Please, what happened?" Eri begged.

"We have determined that Mouri-san's illness is stress related and has been brought on by lack of sleep and high emotional tension."

Kogoro looked surprised.

"She seemed fine to me," he said.

"Do either of you have any idea of what could be causing this?" Dr. Aoyama asked.

"It was me."

The three adults looked down at Conan.

"It's all my fault." Conan said.

"Nonsense!" said Eri, "You have no reason to blame yourself about what happened. You are just a kid."

"It's that Shinichi!" Kogoro yelled shaking his fist.

"Shinichi Kudou?" asked the doctor, "The high school detective?"

"The very same!" said Kogoro, "Look what he's done to my little girl!"

Conan hung his head.

"Will Ran be all right?" asked Eri ignoring her husband's banter.

"She should be. Just make sure she gets plenty of rest. She will have to stay at the hospital tonight however so we can make sure her condition doesn't worsen.

"Doctor, I want to stay with Ran-neechan," said Conan.

"I'm sorry kid but she really needs her sleep..." Aoyama started.

"Please doctor, it's very important." Conan gazed steadily at the doctor.

"Very well," Aoyama gave in. "If it means that much to you. Mouri-san has just been relocated to room 725 on the seventh floor.

"Thank you."

000 (Present day)

Everyone had left for the time being so it was only Conan and Ran in the room again.

"I just can't accept that he's dead," Ran said while staring out the window. Conan glanced at her and smiled slightly to himself.

"Shinichi really was a foolish person," said Conan softly. Ran looked at him.

"He thought he was immortal." Conan laughed softly. Ran thought she detected bitterness in that laugh, a bitterness that should never be heard in the voice of a child.

Conan gazed out at the sky, and to Ran it almost looked like he was looking back in time, to a place that he wanted desperately to forget.

"He couldn't even defend himself when those men poisoned him," Conan continued.

"How do you know tha-" Ran was cut off by Conan.

"He really made a mess of things didn't he?"

Ran stared at him. Conan slowly turned to face her.

"Do you believe in Shinichi, Ran?" he asked.

"How can I? He's dead now,"

"There's only one truth Ran, but it can appear in many different forms." Conan stared intently into her eyes, "Do you believe in Shinichi?"

'_Only one truth...'_

"Yes."

Conan's small regretful smile grew into a large grin and for the first time since Ran awoke that morning, he looked truly happy.

"Then you should know that no matter how arrogant and foolish he is, he would never let himself be killed before he came back to you.

An impossible hope shown in Ran's eyes.

"So you mean he isn't..."

"Of course he isn't dead!" Conan threw his arms around her and laughed, "Do you really think he would die before you got to throttle him for leaving?"

At that moment Ran didn't care how Conan knew that Shinichi was alive. He _was_ alive, and that's all that really mattered. Ran began to laugh, and she ran her fingers through Conan's soft dark hair all the while holding him close.

"Are you all better now Ran-neechan? Can you come home now?"

"Yes, of course!" She smiled brightly at him.

"Good! Because you know math class wouldn't be any fun without you."

Ran laughed again and hugged him even tighter.

000

I couldn't help it! I had to name the doctor after the Aoyama-sama. I think it's pretty funny.

How did you like the chapter? It took forever to write. Don't forget to review! I'll have the next chapter up soon.

ps. There are going to be a few surprises in the upcoming chapters. Hope you enjoy it!


	5. KOI WA THRILL SHOCK SUSPENSE!

I am sooooooooo sorry about the wait! I went to Canada for a while and I didn't have any way type a new chapter!

-CCV

000

Ran was released form the hospital after a long chat with the doctor about her well-being. The whole process was actually pretty exhausting in itself since Dr. Aoyama liked to make sure is characters...er _patients _were well taken care of. It surprised the good doctor how the girl could go from bad to worse and then to unbelievably cheerful in the course of about a day and a half. _(He secretly wondered if perhaps he had made that particular character slightly to emotional, but then he looked at his reader feedback from all of the romantic drama scenes in the manga and quickly changed his mind.)_

Ran's parents as well as our favorite little Detective Boys were extremely pleased to hear about her swift recovery as well as a little confused. Like Aoyama-san they couldn't believe how fast she recovered from the death of her 'best male friend'

Conan had also seemed a bit more cheerful since Ran's release, but everyone just assumed it was because his 'neechan' was all right again.

000

Conan waited at the top of the steps of Mouri's Detective Agency for Ran to shut the door so that they could walk to school.

'_I'm glad Ran is feeling better,'_ he thought as Ran joined him and they descended the stairs together._ 'Maybe it's a good thing everyone believes me to be dead now. After all, Ai may never find a cure.'_

Conan's theory on reporters evidently hadn't been far off since the death of Shinichi Kudou had been that morning's top news story. He had worried that Ran would break down again so he had been watching her very carefully, though it made him glad that despite everything she trusted him. She trusted him to come back to her, and Conan would find a way to make that happen.

'Ai will find a cure, and I will do everything I can to help.'

The walk to school was mostly uneventful, excepts that Conan could have sworn he saw Doctor Aoyama walking down a side street that they passed.

Teitan high however, was a completely different story. Much like Conan's first day, not much work got done. Everyone wanted to know what happened with Ran, and Sonoko was having the time of her life exaggerating the story for the class. The biggest factor to that class's mayhem that day though, was the strange absence of their teacher.

About ten minutes into the class period, the sliding classroom door opened and the principle entered. The class quickly quieted at his presence.

"Class," he started as he made his way to the front of the room, "I am sorry to say that your regular math teacher will be away for some time due to personal matters."

The classroom erupted into cheers and Conan rolled his eyes.

"I wonder what happened." Ran stated with a somewhat confused expression.

"Who cares!" cried Sonoko happily. "Maybe our new teacher will be a young cute guy!"

Conan yet again rolled his eyes.

The principle waited for silence before continuing.

"It is my pleasure to announce your new math teacher." The principle gestured towards the door and in walked a strangely familiar man. Conan's jaw literally hit the floor.

"This is Gosho Aoyama. He has kindly agreed to step in for Mikawa-san until she returns." he went on to explain a little bit more about the background of Aoyama but Conan and Ran had stopped paying attention.

"Wasn't he that doctor that took care of me at the hospital?" Ran asked Conan quietly.

"Yes he was," Conan agreed. "But he works with medicine, it's strange for him to suddenly become a math teacher. Things like that just don't happen."

000

Once the principle had left the room, Aoyama began his own introduction, explaining about his teaching habits and what the class would be working on.

His first assignment for the class was rather tough. It featured a rather involved story problem, and the majority of the class had trouble just deciphering the words judging from the fact that the whole thing was in English. Luckily the problem was meant as kind of a joke, and Aoyama didn't expect very many people to be able to get the answer. However, Aoyama was the joking type and of course he didn't tell the class that right away. After all what was more fun than watching students freak out about work?

Conan had no trouble at all translating the assignment, he was after all fluent in English. (A/N read The Golden Apple volumes 34 and 35.)

Ran also had a fairly easy time with it, even though she wasn't as good at English as Conan, though she didn't know he was. Meanwhile the other students who knew English did pretty well, and the ones who didn't were literally pulling their hair out complaining loudly about how this was sugaku, not eigo.

Little did the students in his class know, Aoyama-sensei the teacher was not the same Aoyama as the doctor. Sure they looked alike, sounded the same, and they both had the same name, but this Aoyama was actually doctor Aoyama's evil twin who was secretly conspiring against the characters of his brother's manga. As he looked over the students' papers, he smirked an evil little smirk when he got to Conan's.

"Edogawa-san, will you please come see me?" he called.

Conan looked up from the doodle he had been absent-mindedly scribbling on a piece of notebook paper to see the teacher gesturing towards him. He got up and made his way to the front of the classroom where Aoyama was sitting.

"You wanted to talk to me sensei?"

"Yes, it would seem Edogawa-san, that you are quite full of surprises." Conan tilted his head to the side questioningly.

"I had heard about your jump to this math level from the principle. That surprised me enough as it was, but English too? You are just the regular little genius aren't you?"

Conan mentally hit himself again, he was really making a mess out of things. How could it be that he kept on accidentally giving away bits of his secret?

"That math problem wasn't simple English Edogawa-kun, you do know that don't you?"

Conan only nodded, eyes fixed on the floor.

"If you don't mind, I know an English teacher at this very school who would undoubtedly love to be your teacher."

Conan definitely saw this one coming, but there was nothing he could do about it, so he just sat by idly as Aoyama-sensei set everything up with Ran. Evidently, someone up there really hated him.

Poor Conan didn't have any idea

He made it through the rest of his day in primary school all right, however he probably should have been expecting what would happen on the walk back home with Ran.

"So Conan, is there anything else you're keeping from me? Like maybe for instance being a pro soccer player? Or maybe even an internationally famous teen detective?"

Nope he really hadn't had any idea. Poor poor Conan.

000

Ha! I finally did it! I got this chapter posted! Hahahaha!

Sugaku means math

Eigo means English

By the way, I have some Detective Conan fanart on fanart central. Soon I will have some relating to this story too! I will post links when I put them up.

Meanwhile here is the link to the DC section of Fanart Central if you didn't know it user name is Akirichan. I hope you like them!


	6. Oooh! Something interesting!

Once upon a time there was a lazy authoress who hadn't updated in five months. Her reviewers all begged her to keep going with her story, but she laughed a terrible laugh and made little voodoo dolls of them so that she could torture them forever and ever. Not to say that she didn't like getting reviews, she actually lived off of them, and every time she got one she was actually tempted to cease her loafing and write another chapter. Luckily she was a professional loafer and was able to resist the urge, but she never stopped thinking about her fic thinking that eventually she would have to finish it like she promised.

She would update now, but unfortunately she is right in the middle of Graphic Design class so she can't make a regular chapter. However, she _was_ able to write a little side story for everybody to enjoy.

...000...

Conan looked to the right, then the left nervously. This was bad, if he was found- he didn't even want to think about it.

"I know you're there!" A voice called.

Conan panicked and ducked into an ice cream shop. hiding himself behind the counter. He was lucky, all the workers seemed to be in the back room.

"Do you really think that you can hide from me?"

A bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face. This was the end, there was no chance of escape. He had finally been found out after all this time, after he had tried so hard to keep his identity a secret.

"I'll find you! There is no where you can go that I can't follow!"

That's when he saw it, his salvation. He only had one shot. He watched the person ducked down do look under a table. Now was his chance.

Conan bolted from behind the counter running as fast as he could. He pushed open the door and flung himself into the adjoining room. Finally, he was safe.

_'Ha!''_ he thought. _'I there _is_ a place that you can't follow me after all!'_

"Damn you Shinichi! Get your little butt out of that bathroom RIGHT NOW!" Ran yelled furiously.

...000...

I hope you liked it! Short but sweet. I'll try to have another chapter up soon so just bare with me!

Ja ne!

-CCV

Ps. For anyone who's interested in a really funny manga that they can enjoy online go select 'volume one' and start reading. It's hillarious, seriously! You'll be hooked by the end of the first manga.

Try it, I dare you! Consider it a treat for anyone who bothers to read author's notes.


	7. Myspace is fun!

1A/N: I know that my previous chapters haven't been very good, sorry! It's much easier to read fanfics then write them, but I'm hoping that this chapter will be better.

Also, I realize that my last two links haven't shown up, so I'll post them again at the end of this chapter if I can remember.

Finally, I'm so sorry! I wanted to post this days ago but I couldn't since the user login was down.　すみません!

000

Jodie was positively delighted to have her favorite little tantei join her class. It actually gave her the warm fuzzies inside just thinking about it.

To Jodie, her position as an English teacher was one of her greatest joys. Sure, the FBI was undoubtedly interesting, and of course her personal reasons (video games) behind it were as important as ever, but nothing warmed her heart more than watching students suffer with hard homework, and of course teasing them in English that they hadn't learned yet was up there too. She was rather like the new Aoyama-sensei in that regard.

The Monday morning of Conan's initiation into her class found Jodie happily skipping (and humming ) through the halls of Teitan High towards the classroom that Aoyama was just leaving.

Jodie smiled a large bright smile and almost sung as she said, "Lovely Morning isn't Aoyama-san?" and promptly entered the room.

"Everybody up!" she announced brightly to the class. The students hastily followed her orders to begin the opening greeting.

"Konnichiwa, minnasan o genki desu ka?" she asked. The students bowed and in perfect unison replied, "Hai, genki desu!"

"Wonderful! Please take your seats. Now on to business, Cool Kid, get your butt up here." She said in English.

Conan, who had been attempting to hide behind the student in the desk in front of him groaned and trotted to the front of the class shooting the overly happy teacher a warning glare.

"Don't be like that, I won't bite." She said then bent down and whispered so only he could hear. "You know I'm not going to expose you, so try to enjoy yourself a little."

"That's easy for you to say," Conan grumbled back also in a low voice, "You're the one who came to Japan for the soul purpose of shorter arcade game lines. Not everyone can be so easy going."

"Hey! You know that's not true!" Jodie pouted playfully. Conan rolled his eyes.

Jodie straightened and cast a glance at her confused students.

"Just going over the class rules for young Conan-kun here," she said as way of explanation patting his head fondly. Conan smiled cutely to complete the act.

"Now Conan-kun, I want you to know that If you have any trouble with any assignments you can always ask for help. There are plenty of nice Oneechan's and Oniichan's here who would be very happy to answer any questions you have."

"Okay!" he answered happily. _'She's embarrassing me on purpose...'_

_000_

The period went fairly well actually. Conan's initial worries wore off as the lesson progressed. Conan knew that Jodie wouldn't go any farther than teasing him. She was trustworthy in her own special way, plus, over the last month or so he and Jodie had reached a sort of friendship like state. They helped each other out and for the moment shared the same goal of bringing down the black organization.

The issue with Ran was much more pressing at that time anyway...

"Ran-chan, Conan-kun is amazing isn't he? How did he come to live with you anyway?" Conan looked up from his lunch upon hearing his name.

"Indeed, the little guy is _quite_ amazing." Ran agreed, was it just him, or did Conan see an evil twinkle in her eye?

"He loves detective novels and solving mysteries." Ran continued, "I seem to be just _surrounded_ by detectives don't I? What a coincidence!"

Conan winced.

"In answer to your question, the way we met happens to be the strangest thing of all. It was actually on the same day that Shinichi disappeared."

The girl who Ran was talking to looked quite interested indeed.

"I actually found him in Shinichi's house of all places. To this day, I still find myself wondering why he was _there_." She smirked evilly in Conan's direction and he quickly reverted his attention back to his food, hoping she hadn't caught him listening in on the conversation. The girl to whom Ran was talking seemed not to notice this.

"You know, now that I think of it, Conan-kun does look an awful lot like Kudou-kun, how funny!"

"Doesn't he though? Sometimes when he's around it actually feels like Shinichi is right next to me."

Ran's smirk widened as she picked up the sounds of muffled choking from the small boy a little ways away.

000

As the week progressed, Conan found that it was becoming increasingly hard to dodge Ran's attempts to make him slip up.

How she had become so sure of his identity was completely beyond the teen-turned-child. Sure, There _had_ been the recent situations, but was that really all it took to set the karate champion back on high alert?

As he sat in the Mouri detective agency pondering this, there came a knock at the door.

Conan grumbled and got up from his half laying position on the couch to answer the door, shooting it a small glare as if to blame it for interrupting his well deserved laziness.

He opened said door to find a young woman gripping a large handbag nervously. She jumped slightly upon seeing him.

"Hello…is this…could this possibly be the agency of Meitantei Mouri-san?"

'_I wonder why she's so jumpy…'_ Conan switched to happy-little-kid-mode.

"Yep! Please come in!" He chirped pleasantly stepping aside to allow the woman entry. "Have a seat and I'll fetch Kogoro-ojisan for you."

Conan went off to the living level of the building where he found the 'great detective' digging through the fridge for any potentially tasty afternoon munchies.

"What do you want brat?" He asked.

"There's a client here to see you."

"Tell them I'm busy."

Conan sighed.

"Too bad, she's kinda cute."

That got Kogoro's attention.

"Why didn't you say so? I mustn't keep a pretty lady waiting" he announced and quickly left the room without even bothering to close the fridge

000

"My name is Tanaka Mei, and I came to ask you to look into the disappearance of my brother…" The woman, Mei, said hesitantly.

"Brother?" Conan asked re-entering the room.

"Yes, his name is Tanaka Joutarou. He suddenly went missing on his way home from work. I was supposed to meet him for dinner to celebrate a recent scientific accomplishment of his. He's a medical doctor."

"Can you give me any more information? Like his age, what he looks like, or any other details from the night of his disappearance?"

Mei shifted uncomfortably

"He is 28, has rather short brown hair and blue eyes, and a pretty average build and height. I first thought that something might be wrong when he never showed up at the restaurant where we were to meet, but I wasn't positive he was missing until I found out that he hadn't shown up at his apartment for three days. I asked the apartment manager you see, and I also talked with some of his co-workers. They hadn't seen him since the original day when we were going to meet."

"How long ago was this?" Kogoro asked. "And have you considered the possibility that he might have taken some kind of vacation without telling anyone?"

"It was three weeks ago, and he always tells people when and where he is going whenever he leaves. Besides, he _was_ supposed to meet me after all."

"Have you informed the police of his disappearance?" Conan interjected.

"Yes, they told me that they are still attempting to find him. I came here because of all of the good things that I have heard about this agency."

Kogoro fell into his trademarked idiot laugh and announced proudly, "Whatever you heard is right! I can solve any case, guaranteed!"

"Is there any reason for someone to want to kidnap your brother?" Conan asked, ignoring the still laughing Kogoro.

"Not that I can think of, unless it had something to do with his invention. He had just made a really important medical breakthrough in discovering a compound that, if treated under certain conditions, could possibly keep a person from aging as fast. That was the reason we were going to have a celebration. I remember him saying something about there possibly even being a way to reverse a person's aging process in a couple of years. Isn't that amazing?"

"Wow! Like a fountain of youth! I'll bet one could make millions- no _billions_ with something like that!" Kogoro rubbed his hands together greedily. "How about we take a trip around the areas where Tanaka Joutarou-san could have been abducted?"

Conan's thoughts were running a mile a minute.

'_An age altering compound, the abduction of a brilliant scientist, it has to be them! This is almost too perfect!'_ He thought eagerly. _'I need to inform Hiabara and Agasa-hakase immediately, but first, I'll need more information.'_

Ran, who had been listening quietly all the while, spoke up.

"You should probably take care of that soon before any left over evidence is gone."

Conan agreed whole-heartedly with this suggestion. It was completely uncharacteristic for the organization to leave tracks, but even they must mess up _sometimes_ right?

"Lead the way Miss," Kogoro instructed, pulling on a trench coat and heading out the door.

Conan made to follow them but was stopped by Ran.

"Where do you think you're going buddy?" She asked standing before him, fists firmly planted on her hips.

'_Oh Kami! What timing!' _He quickly tried to come up with some kind of excuse.

"Please let me go Ran-neechan! I wanna see Kogoro-ojisan solve a case!" Unfortunately, he wasn't very good at the art of excuses.

"You see him solving cases all the time, and this one is very important. Otousan needs his space to work," she stated sternly.

Ran watched carefully as Conan became desperate. She had a strange feeling that this case would answer all of her questions regarding the strange disappearance of her childhood friend and the appearance of this younger look-alike.

"I'm begging you Ran-neechan! Please _please_ let me go!"

"Tell me why you want to go so badly?"

"I told you! It's because-"

"The real reason!" Conan felt like ripping his hair out. He was wasting precious time and this argument was getting him nowhere.

"Look Ran-neechan, you don't still believe that I'm Shinichi-niichan do you? That's impossible!" He attempted to dart around her but she was too quick. She grabbed his arm roughly then squatted down so she could look him straight in the eye. He tried to wriggle away, he needed to catch up to Kogoro, but Ran's karate induced strength kept him where he was.

"Tell me then Conan," She glared fiercely at him tightening her grip until it was actually starting to hurt.

"You run off solving cases, you're too smart for your age, you don't act like a little kid, and whenever I look into your eyes do you know what I see!" Her tone gradually rose until she was yelling.

"Please stop! Just let me go!"

"I see mystery! I see pain! I see wisdom, I see suffering!"

"Please!"

"Why Conan! What could somebody your age possibly have been through to make them look like that?"

"Ran-neechan!"

"Why do you refuse to tell me!"

"Ran-neechan!"

"Can't you trust me!"

"Ran!"

"_Who are you_?"

"I'm Conan! Edogawa Conan!" he yelped, "That's me now! I can't do anything unless you let me go!"

Ran's eyes widened and her jaw dropped slightly. She stared at him with a mixture of emotions then her expression went strangely blank, her death grip loosened.

Conan realized his slip too late.

000

Wheee! Yayness! I finally completed this chapter!

Anyway, here's the link. I have to separate the URL for it to appear.

http / manga . abildsoe . com/

You will find a manga called 'The Violinist Of Hameln' It's the funniest thing in the history of the world and beyond!

Thank you for all the wonderful reviews! huggles

I won't take as long with the next chapter! Promise!

Also, If you want to check it out, I have a myspace page. Feel free to comment! Actually I command that you comment!

http/ www . myspace . com / 18286480

I also have a live journal account where I might talk about the progress of this story. If you want to listen to the random thoughts of an insane person feel free to visit!

http/ akiri-chan . livejournal . com/

Like I said before, I might draw some pictures for this story. When I do I'll post a link!

じゃ　ね！


	8. Relevance is Futile

"Ran-neechan…?"

Ran's eyes were hidden behind her bangs. Neither moved nor spoke for almost a minute.

The storm had passed.

"I'm sorry Conan-kun… I shouldn't have asked you those things."

The tiny tantei looked at her perplexed.

"I've known you long enough now to know that you don't take things lightly, and I'm sure that whatever your motive is for being here, it's important and you're doing your best."

"Ran…"

She wiped her arm across her eyes hastily and stood, releasing her grip on his arm.

"We'd better get going if we ever hope to catch up," She smiled down at him fondly.

Conan stood still for a couple seconds then threw his arms around her middle in a big comforting hug. Ran hugged him back briefly, then followed as he hurried to find Kogoro and his client.

000

Just as Conan suspected, the entire route from the missing Joutarou's place of work to his home was seemingly devoid of any evidence.

As the others looked around themselves Conan wandered off to explore the only side street that hadn't already been examined. The area was just outside the main part of down town Tokyo. Here there were only little shops and hotels with a scattering of larger business offices. There were a fair number of people milling around and going about their business during the day, but Conan suspected that there would be far less late in the evening unlike the busier sections of the city. He also noticed that some of the streetlights were in need of repair, meaning that quite likely it got pretty dark. Not bad conditions for a kidnapping at all.

"Hey Cool Kid!"

Conan looked around for a minute then spotted Jodie Saintemillion waving at him as she stepped out of a small coffee shop and walked towards him.

"Rather strange place for a kid be wandering around isn't it?" She stated, smiling at him, "I suppose you've also heard about the disappearance of Tanaka-san?"

"Do you have any information?" He asked.

"Unfortunately not much. Shuichi and I were examining this area because we had reason to believe that this case might be connected with _them_."

"And is it?" Conan looked up at her expectantly.

"Dunno. Could be, but there's no way to verify it." She replied with a shrug. "Those murdering SOBs are infuriatingly careful."

"What's an S-O-B?"

"Uh… Never mind."

000

"Aniki."

"What."

"It's that brat again."

"I know."

"What do you plan to do about it?"

The longhaired man crushed out his cigarette with the sole of one of his shiny black shoes, then responded,

"We'll watch him. He's smart, but still just a child. He shouldn't pose _too_ big a threat, if any at all."

The two men stood hidden in the shadow of an office building about 50 meters away from the conversing child and FBI agent.

"What about the woman?"

" Let her be, Vermouth has plans for her."

They hurried silently away as the child in question turned suddenly to look in their direction.

000

Conan had a strange feeling that he was being watched. He turned quickly and just managed to spot two dark shadows disappear around a corner.

'_Gin!'_

He quickly sped after them, but when he rounded the corner there was nobody there.

Had he imagined it? Maybe his over wary mind was playing tricks on him; it wouldn't be the first time…

'_No, it was them, they were here.' _Something in the back of his conscious whispered.

'_You can sense the evil here.'_

"Hey Cool Kid! What's the hurry all of a sudden?" Jodie exclaimed rushing to catch up to him.

"Them."

Jodie looked surprised.

"They were here? Are you positive?"

"I know it was them, their presence is unmistakable."

"Do you think that they've caught on to us?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure they're suspicious. We already know that Vermouth knows, but I don't think that she's told anybody yet." Conan thought of something then. "Didn't you say you were with Shuichi-san? Where is he?"

"Ah yes! I should probably inform him of this, he is inspecting the area a couple blocks up. You should probably get in touch with your Osaka friend too."

"Don't worry, I will," Conan responded. He had promised Heiji that he would call if anything came up.

"I'll contact you if we find anything else or get any information," Jodie said as she began to walk away.

"Ditto."

"Oh and Cool Kid, take good care of Ran-chan. I'm sure I don't need to tell you that she'll be high on the hit list if you're discovered."

"I appreciate your optimism."

000

Conan pulled out his cell phone and dialed the number of his good, but sometimes obnoxious, Osaka-jin friend. He waited as the Heiji's phone rang a few times hoping he had his cell on him. He was relieved to hear a click at the other end.

"Yo."

"Do you always answer your phone like that?"

"Kudou!"

"Hattouri."

"Finally calling for the services of the great detective of the west? I knew you would give in sometime!"

"Ha ha. You should know that's not the case."

"Troubles with Neechan then?"

"Yes actually, but that wasn't the reason I called either. I need you up here now, I have a feeling something big is going to happen."

"You found a lead!"

"Kind of, and I think I saw Gin and Vodka today."

"I'll be there tomorrow morning."

"Good. Oh, and bring Kazuha with you."

"Kazuha? No prob, I doubt she'd stay behind anyway. Why?"

"Ran."

"Ooooh."

000

Conan Ran and Kogoro arrived back at the Agency where 'Meitantei Kogoro' immediately proceeded to flop onto his desk chair and pop open a beer.

"Well that was uneventful," He grumbled. "I couldn't find a damn thing."

Conan and Ran ignored him as usual.

Conan still had to meat with Agasa and Haibara and figured that he may as well take care of it now.

"Ran-neechan, I'm going to go to Agasa-hakase's house." He grabbed a jacket and pulled on his red tennis shoes.

"All right, but be back by seven okay? I'm making okonomiyaki for dinner tonight."

"Great!" he smiled briefly at her then headed out the door and down the street.

When he reached the large white house where the extraordinary genius and his long time friend resided, Conan was surprised to be greeted by none other than Ayumi, Genta, and Mitsuhiko.

"Conan-kun!" Ayumi exclaimed excitedly. "Why are you here?"

"Me? Why are you lot here?"

"We came over to see Ai-chan. We tried to invite you too but you weren't home."

"You came at a great time!" Genta said as Conan entered the large house.

"Yeah, Hakase was just about to give us another one of his boring quizzes with the silly puns." Mitsuhiko continued.

"They aren't boring!" Agasa sulked as Conan and co walked into the large living room.

"They are too! We can never solve them." Genta stated crossing his arms. Ai sat on the couch reading a boring looking magazine on nanotechnology.

Though he enjoyed appending time with them, the presence of his pint-sized friends was definitely going to make it difficult to talk to Haibara and the professor. That's when he got an idea.

"Hey guys, why don't we play hide and seek?" Agasa looked Conan strangely. He didn't usually like playing such games.

"Sure as long as I'm not it," Genta responded. There were nods of agreement from Ayumi and Mitsuhiko. "Ai-kun has to play too!" This of course played right into Conan's hands.

"How about if Haibara and I are it?" He offered.

"Two people? Won't it be unfair that way?" Mitsuhiko asked.

"It'll be more fun if it's more challenging," Ai supplied.

"All right, but no peeking while we hide!"

"Oi oi…"

The terrible trio ran off to find hiding places.

"What did you want to tell us?" Ai asked looking up from her magazine for the first time since he arrived.

"I think I've found a lead."

"Oh?" Agasa responded excitedly. "What happened?"

"We were investigating a missing-person case. The victim is a medical genius."

"The one that just found a rather interesting compound I presume." Ai stated calmly.

"How did you know about that?"

"It's been all over these magazines," She held hers up, "Hard to miss really."

"I'd like to inform you that you're the only person who reads those."

Ai made no reply.

"So you think the organization might be involved?" Agasa asked him.

"I'm almost positive."

"So what are you going to do?" Ai asked him pointedly. "Nothing reckless I hope, though that's probably asking a bit much of _you_." Conan ignored the last comment rather expertly.

"I've already contacted Hattouri. He'll be here tomorrow."

"Just remember to think before you act, and don't do anything without telling us first." Ai warned. "By the way, we might want to start looking for the kids before they get suspicious."

"Oh yeah."

"Remember what I just said about thinking?"

Conan glared at her.

Not much happened in this chapter, but I'm pretty sure the next one will be more interesting. Keep reading and reviewing!

And don't forget to visit me at myspace and livejournal! The links are in the previous chapter.

-CCV

For anyone involved in the DC forum, my user name is Calvados.


	9. Conan is singing and it hurts

6:00am Sunday morning found Ran already up and about preparing a special breakfast.

It wasn't a special occasion, nor had anything unordinary good happened to her; Interesting maybe, but she wasn't sure quite how _good_ the recent events had been.

Actually, she had just happened to wake up early, _and_ happened to be in a good mood. Nothing extraordinary at all, just one of those days where snap awake and feel like shouting to the high heavens, 'I feel like doing something productive!'.

While Conan had been off at Agasa's house the previous day Ran had decided to relieve some of her recently built up stress by going grocery shopping. This always seemed to calm her down and now they had plenty of food around the house.

According to Aoyama-sensei (the doctor) she was supposed to be taking it easy so that she wouldn't experience another breakdown; I think we all know how smoothly _that_ was going.

000

The karate-champ hummed happily to herself as she rolled onigiri. The recent event with Conan had left her surprisingly calm. At this point she didn't know if he was Shinichi like she had suspected so many times, if he was another strange case, or if he was in fact just a regular little kid… One with severe thrill seeking issues… Then again she supposed he could be an alien.

She giggled. One thing that she had learned from her recent experiences was that things were easier to bear if she didn't take them to seriously.

So why stop at alien?

"He could be a little vampire out to steal the souls of all the murdered victims we've dealt with," She giggled again, louder this time, and placed the onigiri she had been rolling on a plate next to the finished ones and began rolling another.

"Or a werewolf," She was now giggling so much that she had a hard time holding onto the rice. "Wouldn't that be something, little werewolf Conan! The scariest baby monster to ever grace a children's book!" She snorted rather un-ladylike at the thought.

"A fairy! That would be hilarious! To think I would have gotten all worked up over Conan the magic fairy!" This time she _did_ drop the rice ball as she clutched her sides laughing wildly.

"I don't see what's so funny. 'Conan the Magic Fairy' indeed."

The annoyed voice came from a little ways behind her.

Ran turned, still chuckling, to find a rather aggravated looking young boy still in pajamas with his small arms crossed over his chest.

"Oh, hey Conan-kun. You're up early. How long have you been standing there?" She asked.

"Long enough for me to question your impressions of my masculinity."

"Oh stop, you're too young to sulk over hurt pride," she walked up and patted him on the head fondly.

"Don't make me cast a spell on you," he joked, poking her in the arm. "By the way, you might want to clean up that rice before it hardens onto the floor."

"Hai hai, your royal pixiness," she threw in a last tease before grabbing a rag and gathering up the fallen onigiri.

"Are you sure you made enough food?" Conan looked warily at the mountain of onigiri almost overflowing off the large platter where it sat. "That looks like enough rice to feed 20 people by itself, and I'm not even touching the subject of the six bowls of miso soup."

Ran looked at her special breakfast as if truly seeing it for the first time. She sweat-dropped.

" Uh…" was she could manage.

Luckily, the teen was saved from even more teasing by the sounds of a person knocking at the door.

"I wonder who would come to visit so early in the morning…?" She wondered aloud, patting her hands on her apron before opening the door.

"Yo kudo- uh… Conan." Heiji trailed off upon seeing that the person answering the door was _not_ Kudou.

"Heiji-_niichan_."

"Heiji-kun! Kazuha-chan! What are you guys doing here?" Ran asked quite surprised by the sudden visit from the Osaka-jin duo.

"We um... decided to visit!" Heiji announced sweating slightly. "You know how boring Osaka can get and um…"

Kazuha glared at him.

"If I remember correctly you just announced that we were suddenly going to visit Ran-chan, Conan-kun, and Kogoro-san, and dragged me on board a plane."

Heiji scratched the back of his head grinning sheepishly.

"This is great Ran-neechan! Now there are more people to eat all the food you cooked!" Conan chirped little-kid-like.

"That's true!" She agreed then smirked and added, "I knew having a house fairy would be a good idea." Undaunted by the boys answering glare she went on.

"Conan-kun, would you mind magic-ing us up some places to sit at the table?"

Heiji and Kazuha looked confused.

"Inside joke… of sorts," Conan explained.

000

Deciding not to wait for Kogoro because they knew he wouldn't be awake for several hours, the group partook in a delicious breakfast of Ran's home cooking.

"Are you doing anything special today?" 'Said cook' asked the kansai visitors.

"Not as far as I know," Kazuha responded looking over at Heiji.

"Just here to visit for a while," he stated, "You know, checking up on the goings on in Tokyo, seeing if any cases need my attention while Kudou is out."

"Aho, why would Tokyo need _you_ when they already have the great detective Sleeping Kogoro?" Heiji chose not to answer that. "Anyway Ran-chan, did you have anything in mind to do today?"

"Well, I thought since you were two were here we could do some shopping together. Oh, and there's a cool new café where we can all have lunch. I've been wanting to go there for a while now." Kazuha looked excited.

"Shopping…" Conan and Heiji groaned in perfect unison. One could almost say it was practiced since the girls always seemed to do this every time they got together.

"That's all right with you two isn't it?" Ran asked. Kazuha shot the detectives one of her patented death glares for good measure.

"…Hai."

000

Shopping was hell as usual for the two greatest high school detectives in Japan (not counting Hakuba). They were dragged around, forced to carry things, and in Heiji's case (and most likely Conan's too if he were his real age) forced to pay for things.

By noon, the two were to be found leaning against each other panting on a bench in the heart of Tokyo's biggest shopping district.

"Remind me pant to never pant do this again," Heiji… uh… _panted_, watching the girls run around admiring expensive looking jewelry and the latest summer fashions.

"You said that last time, and the time before that, and the time before that, and for good measure, the time before _that_ as well."

"Oh just shut it _pixi-boy_."

000

Ran and Kazuha stood a little ways away huddled over the diamond ring section of an especially well known jeweler.

"Wouldn't one of these make a great engagement ring?" Kazuha sighed dreamily.

"It's a shame they're so expensive," agreed Ran, "I'd say our chances of owning one of these in our lifetime is practically nil."

The two sighed in depression.

"What are _they_ all gloomy about?" Heiji asked Conan, gesturing towards their captors… er, _childhood_ _friends_.

"Dunno," The boy yawned and go to his feet, "I'm going to go see if I can find a drinking fountain or a place to buy water. I think the sun is about ready to murder me."

"What's a day around you without a murder? The dark skinned teen joked. "Get a bottle for me too."

The small detective nodded and wandered off, disappearing into the throngs of people.

000

Conan wandered around for what seemed like forever. For a well-known shopping district it was surprisingly hard to locate a simple convenience store or stall where one could buy a simple bottle of water.

He was just about to give up and head back when out of nowhere a hand clamped over his mouth. Surprise quickly turned to terror as he wriggled and kicked with all his might to break free from his captor. He heard a muffled yelp as his foot made contact with the person's shin, but whoever it was' hold remained firm and he was hauled hurriedly into an alley.

The next surprise came when instead of being thrown into a car or outright attacked right there, the person set him down gently and put a finger to their lips to keep him from crying out.

Now that Conan could get a good look at his supposed captor he could see that the person was obviously male, and wearing a pair of dark colored pants and jacket with the hood and collar pulled up to hide his identity.

After a couple seconds had passed the person visibly relaxed and spoke.

"You have a real knack for getting yourself into messes don't you kid?" he asked. Conan was taken aback at the familiar manner in which the person addressed him.

"Okay, first of all who are you, and what the heck are you talking about?" He asked seriously.

"You mean you don't recognize me?" the person asked with a fake pout.

"Right, I'm supposed to recognize someone who's purposefully hiding their identity with a jacket?"

There was a sudden puff of smoke and the jacket and pants were replaced by a white tux with a matching hat and monocle.

"How about now?"

Conan raised an eyebrow.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of a visit from Japan's most famous thief? Stealing jewels is one thing, but when did you add little kids to the list?"

"You're a special case."

"Naturally."

"Anyway, I don't suppose you've realized that you're being watched, have you?"

"By whom?"

"Your little friends in black of course. Seems they want to play."

Conan's eyes narrowed. "How long have they been following me?"

"Since yesterday, when you spotted them on that case. And just because I know you're wondering, no, they haven't watched you constantly. They've just been observing from time to time to see if you're a threat."

"All right then, next question. How long have _you_ been following me?"

"You mean other than throughout the entire manga?"

"Huh?"

"Never mind." Kaitou Kid chuckled. "Only about three days. I've been looking for a chance to talk to you in private."

"And how does Aoko feel about you chasing after a seven year old?"

"She doesn't- Hey wait a minute, how do you know about her?"

"You're not the only one who stalks people."

"I do believe I hold new respect for you."

"Why thank you. Anyway, what was it you wanted to talk about?"

"The kidnapping of Tanaka Joutarou."

"When did _you_ decide to become a detective?"

"You're just jealous because I'm better at it than you are."

"Keep dreaming ghost boy, but I digress, what did you want to know about him? Or perhaps you have information for me?"

"Both. As you know, I too have been monitoring the activities of the BO and I believe it's time we formed a union."

"A detective and a thief huh? Classy."

"Quite. So what do you think?"

"Any particular reason you chose now?"

"Something big is about to happen and I have a feeling we'll need as many allies as we can get. Besides, we're pretty much friends already… in a twisted sort of way."

"Very twisted, but I suppose that's true." Conan agreed.

"You have Hakuba and Akako on your side, and I suppose even Aoko's mop skills could be of _some_ use-"

"You've followed me to _school _too?" This comment was blatantly ignored, and Conan went on as if Kid hadn't said anything.

"Meanwhile, I have the FBI, Heiji, and the police department on my side. A strange but good combination I'd say. Consider yourself allied."

Kaitou clapped his hands together and grinned. "Perfect. I'll investigate on my end and you on yours. We'll need a place to meet and discuss plans though."

"We can use my house since it's currently unoccupied and easily accessible."

Kaitou nodded.

"Meanwhile, why don't you come with us for today. That way we can explain things to Hattouri, then Haibara and Hakase, but be warned we're shopping with _them_."

"After shopping with Aoko, this should be nothing."

"Whatever you say." Conan replied skeptically.

There was another puff of smoke and the phantom thief was in ordinary clothes.

"Are you sure you don't want to go disguised?"

"What's the point? You obviously know who I am, and if I'm going to be working with Hattouri-kun, he is going to need to know as well. By the way I have a present for you."

"Oh?"

There was a pop and all of a sudden Kaito was holding a couple bottles of water.

"I suppose you can be useful after all."

000

Yay! Another chapter down! Things are definitely getting interesting!

Another chapter will be added soon!

新一X蘭　Forever!

""

(That's wingdings2 for 'review!' If it shows up…)

-CCV


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